Merry Christmas!

This is as close to a Christmas card in your mailbox as you are going to get from the Franciscos, I'm afraid.

We hope everyone is doing well, we've loved hearing from those of you who have sent cards!  Here is our four-second-update:

Ben is in his sixth month of residency in Orthopedic Surgery.  We stayed here in San Antonio and he works at various hospitals around the city.  He is enjoying it more each day.  When he has time to do anything else besides work and sleep and study, he likes to. . . wait, I don't think that has happened yet.  But he IS planning a fishing trip for this weekend, so life must not be too bad.

Jan is home with the three bedlamites.  It is often the most entertaining job that she has ever had.  And often the most difficult.  Usually those two extremes don't happen at the same time.  She misses all of her friends who moved away, but loves the new friends she has made in the Parkwood ward (and the ones from Leon Valley who hung around).  I don't really know what to say further.  Especially in third person.

Clark (4) is in PreK down the street from our new house.  He loves it.  His teacher is the absolute authority on everything.  When he was expressing his unwavering faith in there being snow on Christmas day, I told him, "it is too hot here to snow--see it is snowing right now because the snow turns into rain when it comes down in San Antonio since it is so warm".  He just said, "I'll ask Mrs. Gershman, she's good at explaining things".  He still loves animals.  You know how some kids turn any toy into a car or a gun?  Clark turns cars and guns into animals.

Eva  (3) is keeping right up with Clark.  She loves to be the boss of everything.  This is what is known as kharma.  Now I get to raise someone just like me.  She also loves animals, loves playing with Clark, loves telling stories about Lamanites and antelopes, and loves doing what she sees me do.  The other day she got everyone's allergy medicine ready and put the toothpaste on their toothbrushes before bed.  Who knows if the dosing was right, but they all slept great that night.

Myra (1) is still a sweetheart.  She walks and runs the opposite direction from me whenever I ask her to come, but she is so cute and coy about it that I can't help but laugh.  Luckily, usually I don't have to move and Clark or Eva will drag her back to me.  She's the most verbal of any of my kids at this age--she already says "Hi" "Mama" "Dada" "Hot" and nods her head with absolute conviction.  If you've ever read the Twilight series, she has the power of Jasper--she can calm a person down just by holding her.  She is very soothing, and she keeps me sane.  It's sort of magic, I guess.

New Baby (7 months) is a girl, and will be here in 7 short weeks.  We're aiming for February 8.  One of the few perks of a planned c-section is choosing their birthday.

We miss you all and love you.  Have a great holiday week!